Developers are time and again hoarding land.

I think we just need a bit of global warming for Canada to move some of the people about 5-10 miles Norths. It looks like 85-90% of the population is pretty bunched up to it’s southern border with the US.

Let say you have a house with a large lot and a great private backyard 5-6 mins drive from core downtown.

Every single one of those houses should be re-zoned, torn down, and turned into townhomes.

Well it’s a good thing prices are proving your theory correct…since only the GTA, has appreciated, and not places like Barrie, Windsor, or London, which have seen little to no appreciation due to the lack of greenbelt.

Oh wait…

With the growth of WFH, those city center homes aren’t the sure bet they’ve been. Yes, I think they’ll retain more value than exhurbs but I think post-pandemic there’s going to be a divergence between homes with backyards and more rooms and everything else. Boomers and Gen X might not be fans of WFH but 90% of Gen Y prefer it. And with the bulk of them entering middle-age, a disruption is coming.

Some businesses drag their heels, but a lot of people from work jumped ship during the pandemic when head hunters came looking with jobs from competitors offering WFH arrangements. Same at my partner’s work. Competition to live near downtown Toronto isn’t going to continue to be what it was for those earning a decent income. As it stands, we’re leaving Toronto. If my partner’s employer doesn’t allow WFH after we move, he’s quitting. We have other means to earn income remotely and have come to the realization that we don’t actually need them and probably never did.

If I have a 10,000 square foot lot and current zoning allows me to build a house that is 30% of that (3000 square feet) but I only build 2500sf, is the remaining 500 calculated as being available for future development?

Local municipalities can change those ratios any time making calculations of undeveloped land amorphous from day to day, certainly from decade to decade.

If you raise interest and tax rate, your city center lot needs to earn income. You better invest and densify, create new units, etc. For now, it is counterproductive as Mitch pointed out.

Not to mention in LA single-family homes are the type of housing located in low-income and racialized areas, and are being replaced with high-density housing that’s more expensive to build than it is to deal with low-density housing.

Like LA’s spot zoning issue, they’re predators trying to convince low income people their lives will get better if they just let developers do whatever they want.